RESUMEN
When prey are differentially affected by intra and interspecific competition, the cooccurrence of multiple prey species alters the per capita availability of food for a particular prey species which could alter how prey respond to the threat of predation, and hence the overall-effect of predators. We conducted an experiment to examine the extent to which the nonconsumptive and overall effect of predatory water bugs on snail and tadpole traits (performance and morphology) depended on whether tadpoles and snails cooccurred. Tadpoles and snails differed in their relative susceptibility to intraspecific and interspecific competition, and predators affected both prey species via consumptive and nonconsumptive mechanisms. Furthermore, the overall effect of predators often depended on whether another prey species was present. The reasoning for why the overall effect of predators depended on whether prey species cooccurred, however, differed for each of the response variables. Predators affected snail body growth via nonconsumptive mechanisms, but the change in the overall effect of predators on snail body growth was attributable to how snails responded to competition in the absence of predators, rather than a change in how snails responded to the threat of predation. Predators did not affect tadpole body growth via nonconsumptive mechanisms, but the greater vulnerability of competitively superior prey (snails) to predators increased the strength of consumptive mechanisms (and hence the overall effect) through which predators affected tadpole growth. Predators affected tadpole morphology via nonconsumptive mechanisms, but the greater propensity for predators to kill competitively superior prey (snails) enhanced the ability of tadpoles to alter their morphology in response to the threat of predation by creating an environment where tadpoles had a higher per capita supply of food available to invest in the development of morphological defenses. Our work indicates that the mechanisms through which predators affect prey depends on the other members of the community.
RESUMEN
Balancing trade-offs between avoiding predators and acquiring food enables animals to maximize fitness. Quantifying their relative contribution to vital rates in nature is challenging because predator abundance and nutrient enrichment are often confounded. We employed a reciprocal transplant study design to separate these confounded effects on growth and reproduction of snails at wetland sites along a gradient of predator threats and phosphorus (P) enrichment associated with a canal. We held snails in mesh bags that allowed the passage of waterborne predator cues and fed them local or transplanted periphyton. Molluscivores were more abundant near the canal, and snails tethered near the canal suffered 33% greater mortality than those tethered far from it (far sites). The greatest difference in snail growth rates was at the far sites where growth on far periphyton was 48% slower than on P-enriched (near canal) periphyton. Close proximity to the canal reduced growth on near periphyton by 21% compared to growth on the same periphyton far from the canal; there was no difference in growth rate on either periphyton type when snails were raised near the canal. Snails laid 81% more egg masses at far sites than at near sites, regardless of periphyton origin. Top-down and bottom-up processes were elevated near the canal, and their effects canceled on growth, but not reproduction. Phenotypic trade-offs such as these may explain why some taxa show little response to nutrient enrichment, compared to others, or that the effects of nutrient enrichment may be context dependent.
